I just called and bought one certificate before reading this - and called back. I was told if you order online and participate in the survey you are giving permission to be charged by shopping essentials. I called in my order, and I was assured that they do not even keep my information once it is processed and when I mentioned what I read in the post above they said that person should call restaurant.com's customer service line and they will take care of the issue. I hope they are right!!!

Unfortunately, I am dealing with this scam right now. I have been charged unknowingly for a year now. I never completed any survey, or signed up for any membership. Just by purchasing a gift certificate online I was automatically signed up. I sadly did not pay close enough attention to my monthy credit statement and now I am out almost $200. It's my fault for not noticing, so please check your statements carefully!

FYI.. when I enter the restaurant site my AVG search shield warns me of "danger".. that this site is known as an exploit, phishing, or etc.

Hey, I got $300 worth of certificates for $28. Thanks ALOT!

I bought gift certificates from restaurants.com and somehow ended up getting charged a $19.95 fee for a monthly subscription to Shopping Essentials. I never even saw this or I certainly wouldn't have subscribed. I cancelled it but they won't give me my money back. Not only that, but they don't even send you anything to say what the membership is for - seems to be a scam. Anyway, not sure if any other restaurant.com users have experienced this, but just be on the lookout!

RESTAURANT.COM IS A TOTAL SCAM!!!! I'm so sad to report this, but this really is the case. At least for me and half a dozen other people I know who have used the site. I have read comments like yours, Kelly, from many people who have said this same thing happened with them. Kelly, the very same thing happened to me over a year ago.
After my first visit to the restaurant.com I ended up getting $19.95 drafted my checking account (b/c I paid with my debit card) EVERY MONTH for 8 months!! I called FOUR TIMES trying cancel this monthly subscription to the same "shopping essentials". EVERY time, I spoke with a "manager" and was told it was cancelled. I would get the same fee the following month, call and raise cain.... I was told that there was no record of my call the prior month in their system, so they would not honor the fact that I had said I cancelled the account. So, I was charged another $19.95 and they would NOT reimburse me. This went on for several months. It was unnerving to me.
Restaurant.com is by far, they WORST website I have come across in terms of ripping people off, lying and covering their lies, horrible customer service, rudeness, the list goes on. At one point I was speaking with a manager, who became absolutely bulligerant with me, swore at me, and hung up the phone. I was in shock.
I will never recommend this website, and I have truly regretted the one person I did recommend it too. They were also ripped off.
My one coupon I bought that saved me $25 ended up costing me almost $200!!
HORRIBLE WEBSITE! PERIOD.

I forgot to add that when restaurant.com finally did cancel my account, they politely charged me a service fee to do so.

Restaurant.com does not charge the fees - there is a clear survey at the end of orders that offers a rebate or whatever to sign up w/ shopping essentials. there would be no way to sign up for them without filling that survey out - and there is a no thank you button. I get the survey randomly and always make sure to check no.

I have noticed as of late that several restaurants have upped the minimum purchase to $50 for those of us using the $25 gift certificates. Be very aware of the fine print, as each restaurant is different regarding whether alcohol is included, minimum purchases and the day of the week in which it can be used. Otherwise, you can get really great gifts using this discount. Also, make sure to give them the coupon BEFORE ordering. I.E. You can purchase a 12 month dinner of the month club (A $25 gift cerficate is granted on a monthly basis) for $24 (with discount). That means that your gift keeps on giving for several months. They also have 3 month ($6 with discount) or 6 month ($12 with discount) dinner of the month club as well!

THANKS so much! I was wanting to give my sister and sister-in-law the Dinner of the Month Club for Christmas and with your tip I was able to get it for $24 each!! They will each get one $50 certificate and twelve $25 certificates and I only paid $24!!!!

Be careful! You can get a coupon for a great price, but there is a minimum purchase at the restaurant! If you have a $25 coupon you must use it towards a $35 purchase at the restaurant. So you might not want to use it as a gift...it's a coupon not a gift card.

I've been couponing for just a few weeks now and have been thrilled with all the money we've saved. Thank you, Southern Savers! In that vein, I bought several Restaurant.com gift certificates (during their last 80% off sale) for soooo cheap and was excited to use them. I went with my husband and baby to a nice Italian restaurant on Saturday. We normally split an entree (who needs such a huge serving? not me!) but this time we ordered our own because we had to spend $35 to get the $25 discount. We even threw in some drinks and a dessert. When the bill came I tucked my little coupon in with my credit card and sent it back with the waiter. To my chagrin he returned with my coupon in hand and said that they don't accept the coupons on weekends!! I had known but just had forgotten it!!! So $50 later.... Oh well - my couponing over the last few weeks helped pay for a very nice dinner out.

I checked this out, when I entered my zip code a ton of restaurants came up, but the discounts are not as good. like a $10 for $4?

As you check out you should see a place to enter the promotion code. Try adding it to your cart and then you should see it in the upper right corner I think.

I signed up today and only got the $10. Did I do something wrong?

How long are the gift cards good for? I was thinking this would be a super Christmas gift idea!

They are good for entire year. you can even buy a general $25 giftcard to restaurant.com for the same discounted price and then they can come and pick the store they want.

The entire year as in until December 2009, or within 12 months after the purchase, so Oct. 2010? Sorry....want to be sure!

12 months after purchase

I love using this site! Thanks for the discount code.

Thanks for the tip! I ordered 2 $25 gift certificates to my favorite sushi restaurant and only paid a total of $4. Yay!

Thanks for the tip! I just ordered a 2-pc tracksuit and paid only $15 (after the $10 discount)!

Is the discount $5 or $10? I thought that it was $10 if you signed up prior to 10/31.